{posted by Will}Portal 2coming to the PlayStation 3 with Steam support was Valve's big E3 surprise earlier this year. It wasn't, to most gamers' dismay, the reveal of Half-Life 3 or even Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Hang tight, because there are more surprises in store. Three of 'em.

"I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do," Valve's Gabe Newell told PC Gamer. "That isn't going to stop any time soon. I'm just laughing because … people will be shocked again."

"We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least," he adds.

Valve has recently trademarked Defense of the Ancients, prompting speculation that an updated version of the real-time strategy games is imminent. And one has to wonder what Gordan Freeman has been up to these days…

{posted by Will}Valve has just announced that Portal 2 will now be coming out the week of April 18, 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For reals this time. The game was pushed back by two months and marks the "shortest delay in Valve history." The e-mail release was short, but in classic Valve fashion, is pretty hilarious. Check it out after the fold.Still no word on the longest delay of any news on a game people are dying for, Half-Life 3.Valve today announced that Portal 2 -- the sequel to the ground-breaking title that won over 30 game of the year awards, despite missing its original ship date -- will now be available the week of April 18th, 2011. This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve's proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time. Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date.{Source: Destructoid}My Thoughts: Really doesn't surprise me that such an anticipated game is being delayed. Isn't that how it works nowadays?

If you care deeply about pixel counts and frame rate—or are simply still on the fence about which console version of Call of Duty: Black Ops to buy—don't miss Digital Foundry's deep technical tear down of the Xbox 360 and PS3 releases. Eurogamer's techy side examines the two console versions of Treyarch's latest Call of Duty game, judging it by resolution, texture quality, frame rate and even which platform spits out a better stereoscopic 3D experience. Digital Foundry's analysis ultimately says "there's little doubt that the Xbox 360 offers the better experience: superior image definition, and a pleasingly smoother run of play."(The PC version of Black Ops, which has its own ups and downs, is not factored into the comparison.)The results likely won't be a surprise to discriminating Call of Duty fans, as the site's analysis of last year's Modern Warfare 2 resulted in a similar conclusion.If the only thing preventing you from picking up a copy of Black Ops is the number of vertical lines on the screen or the mip-map quality of a cigarette pack texture, this is required reading before a purchase.Face-Off: Call of Duty: Black Ops [Eurogamer] [Kotaku]

Bethesda has said on its blog there’s a third patch for Fallout: New Vegas in the works and its due to hit next week for PC.The patch is being issued to fix save corruption issues and companion problems, along with providing improved performance for Nvidia graphics chips and issues reported with the Havok physics engine.Two patches for the game have already been released on PC.New Vegas was released in October for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360[Source: VG247]

BioWare has put out a new video for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and in it we get to see the Warzones where PvP will come into play.In these battlegrounds, both sides need to complete goals and objectives to win over the other in different scenarios.Over on the planet Alderaan, PvP comes into play when both sides, the Republic and Imperial forces seek control of a weapon that could destroy an entire fleet of soldiers. Watch it for yourself below.While news about the PvP is goo to finally hear more about, there’s also a bit of news on the crafting front.The system is used through a Crew Skill, and players will use their ship as a crafting hall, sending companions on crafting tasks which will eventually allow the companions to level up in skill. The Crew Skill is grouped into Crafting, Gathering, and Missions and according to Darth Hater, Bio Analysis and Slicing are main components of Gathering, while Crafting consists of Artificer and Bio Chem. Missions involve Diplomacy and Treasure Hunting.SWTOR is slated for release sometime after Q1 2011Watch the video here at VG247